Budding stars go head to head in Salt Lake City
Finding a franchise player upon which to build an NBA empire with the 13th overall pick in the draft is nearly unheard. If you take into account the fact that Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone are responsible for 32 of the all-time 37 All-Star game appearances by players selected at this position, your chances look even slimmer.
Remarkably, the Utah Jazz seemed to have liked their chances and rolled the dice on yet another relatively unheralded player with the 13th pick and happened upon a future superstar. It happened once with Karl Malone back in 1985, and Lady Luck has seemingly come in clutch for Salt Lake City once again with Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell wasn’t supposed to be this good. In fact, some of his coaches as well as NBA scouts reportedly advised him to stay in college and work on his game some more before making the jump to the pros. And boy do they look foolish now.
Utah was a bit tentative about handing the keys to the franchise to the score first combo guard, but after attacking the basket with reckless abandon and playing with an endless motor, the Jazz quickly changed their minds.
While he averaged a respectable 14.9 points per game over the first 21 games of his career, Mitchell has put those numbers to shame with an incredible average of 23.2 points per game over his last 20 outings. He’s far from leading the league scoring, but with comparisons like Russell Westbrook with a jump shot, who’s to say he won’t get there before long?
On Monday night, Mitchell met up with fellow blossoming star Victory Oladipo and the Indiana Pacers in a matchup that should give fans a reason to clear their schedules and sit down for a show. While Oladipo and the Pacers took this round 109-94, Mitchell rivaled his Indianapolis counterpart with 23 points to Oladipo’s 28.
Both players have a real chance to be something special, and with young scorers like Devin Booker, Gary Harris and Bradley Beal, the shooting guard position should be one to watch for years to come. James Harden holds down the title of two guard in the NBA today, but when his reign ends, it’ll be interesting to see who fights their way to the top of the food chain.
